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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Riverside Red X: A Beer Graveyard

Posted by
Chimpotle

I wasn't sure if I was really into the hype surrounding Sierra Nevada's 30th Anniversary beers. Yet I still found myself in the Red X parking lot on my way home from work to see if there was some sitting around. Sure enough, I found three bottles with no listed price and grabbed one just to say I had it. But that wasn't the only beer they had sitting around.

Last week, I finally cracked open the bottle of Odell Woodcut 3 I had purchased months ago. I was pretty surprised to see such a healthy supply of it left on the rack, but not as surprised as I was to see a bottle of Woodcut 2 there. That thing has been there for months. Odell bottled the stuff in April of 2009. Red X has practically aged the stuff a year for anyone interested that has $23 burning a hole in their pocket. But there's more.

I think I remember a past comment about trying some Abita Christmas if you see it on the shelf. If that's something that interests you, then Red X is the place for you. Hey, it's only been 4 months since Christmas. For all you Bell's fans, they had 5 sixers of Batch 9000 waiting for you to come and save them. I had also given up trying Sierra Nevada Glissade since seeing it disappear from the Gomer's by my house weeks ago, but Red X has totally got the hookup.

There were quite a few other surprising items I saw sitting around, but they escape me right now. I thought about picking up quite a few items, but then I laid eyes on the full pallet of O'Fallon Wheach and nearly pissed my pants in excitement. Luckily, it was in their new, open sixer packaging so I was sure it hadn't been sitting in the back since last summer.

3 comments:

The problem with Red X is that they don't store the beer very well. The times I've been there, the beer area has been hot, not just warm, but stuffy hot. Also, a lot of the more esoteric beers are stored on open racks with no light protection.

Did you try that Woodcut #2? I'd concerned with buying a beer that old that has been stored with care equivalent to leaving it out on your counter by a sunny window for a year.